PM can’t make it, OC doesn’t know who to give first ticket

After the British Queen it is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s turn to leave Commonwealth Games high and dry. The PM will not be present at the function for launch of tickets as planned by the Commonwealth Organising Committee (OC). It is learnt that with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also expressing his inability to attend, the committee is now busy finding a suitable personality who can be presented with the first ticket.

The committee had first planned to launch the tickets on June 1, but the function was put off till June 4 as there was no clarity on who will be presented the first ticket. The committee wanted the PM to get the first ticket, but Prime Minister’s Office has expressed inability to attend the function, though Singh will be in Delhi on the day.

“We are working out details for the launch on Friday. We will be able to tell you the details by tomorrow,” said Organising Committee general secretary Lalit Bhanot from Pune.

On Friday, the committee plans to launch the tickets along with the website for online booking, a schedule book for all events and a Games handbook with details of various business establishments, contact points and so on. Top sportsmen like shooter Abhinav Bindra will be present during the launch.

Ticket to the games
The tickets are priced between Rs 50 and Rs 1,000 for all sporting events, while the opening and closing ceremonies tickets cost between Rs 750 and Rs 50,000.

Railway PSU IRCTC has already been roped in to sell the tickets from June 4. The committee hopes to sell 1.7 million tickets in all.

The tickets have been designed with inbuilt security mechanism to ensure there is no counterfeiting. All tickets have been barcoded and will be printed at Indian Security Printing Press and will carry information about the seat allotted.

The ticket holder will be photographed at the entry of the stadium and the police will have a database of all spectators.